Hi guys,

As you may recall, in one of my previous posts I talked about Activision game testing, and said that it’s a great company to work for and that if you get a job as a game tester there – you are very lucky. Or good. Or both..

I just want to tell you about a friend of mine, who worked with me at Activision in a game tester position a couple of years ago and how he became a game tester. His name is Nick.

How Nick became an Activision game tester

Nick was a high school drop out. He was constantly bored at school, didn’t like the teachers and didn’t come to classes.

Eventually, he was kicked out of school and he found himself at home , not knowing what to do next with his life. I didn’t know him back then. He was really into video games and he spent most

Activision game testing lab

of his time playing his favorite video games. Especially, he loved Activision video games.  He told me that he loved playing Activision video games so much, that he played those game about 7-8 hours a day.

He knew every little detail about those games. He remembered small bugs that occurred while he was playing, AI screw ups at different levels and more..

He never considered game testing as a career at the time, until he came across a nice ebook that he bought. It was this ebook, and it changed his life upside down. He read the book, and knew that game testing is the right career choice for him. He wrote a resume and applied for a job in Activision game testing department.

After about a week he got an interview at Activision. He went to the interview, where he was asked some questions about the games he used to play and examples of bugs he found. He was able to answer the questions and he got a job offer right in the end of the interview.

The offer included 20 hours a week of game testing, and the salary was 20$/hr. But that was only the beginning, and for being a hard working employee he got a raise.

Nowadays, Nick is a senior game tester at Activision and makes 60$/hr for testing video games he loves.

How will you become a game tester?

As you can see from Nick’s story, it doesn’t take a lot of work, or even a high school diploma to become a game tester.. you just have to be enthusiastic about video games and know how to find bugs in them. I recommend you to read the book that both I and Nick read.  It’s a great book and it will help you to become a game tester in no time.

So, you finally decided you want to test video games for living. It’s a great choice and I am very happy for you, but before you can tell all your friends about your cool new job you have to understand some things. You don’t really know where to go or what to do now. You just hopelessly search through the internet for some leads and advices. That’s all right, I’ve been there too. It’s only the beginning and when you understand what do you need to become a game tester – you will do it and you will work as a game tester.

So, how to become a beta tester for games? Here are the first two steps you should takein order to start working as a video game tester:

Become a game tester – step 1

Real live game testers... feast your eyes :)

Get serious. You must understand that game testing is not just

pure fun. It’s a real job. Yes. You will have deadlines, missions and a boss that you’ll have to listen to. If you don’t listen to your boss or don’t do your missions – you might get fired, just as in any other job out there.

As a senior game tester in a big company, I get to do a lot of interviews for game testing candidates. There are two kinds of candidates: The serious kind and a “summer job” kind. The serious kind will always bring a CV. They understand that they are applying for a job and they are more ready for my questions. The “summer job” kind, on the other hand, are usually just people that want to have fun and make money while doing so. They usually think that the interview is just to see what kind of games they like..

My advice is not to be the “summer job” type. Be the serious type. Read some game testing book, know what is expected of you and be ready for the interview. It’s a real, actual job.

Become a game tester – step 2

Getting out on the market. So after you read a book or two on beta game testing, and prepared a CV that describes your  colossal gaming experience, you can get out and start looking for a job. How to look for a job you ask? Well, no company will even know you exist. You must come to them. They have hundreds of applications each day, and you have to be able to put yourself out. You must show that you are what they’re looking for.

You should chase after the companies you want to work for, and show that you are persistent. That will show them that you will be persistent about finding bugs and imperfections in their games. It’s a very important quality that every game tester should have.

Conclusion

To become a game tester it is not enough to know how to play games or even have experience of years. You have to have the right attitude but also the knowledge. You have to know certain thing before you even thinking about applying for a game testing job. This includes computing, QA, gaming industry and more. All this knowledge can be aquired by reading ebooks. My absolute favorite is this one:

Click the picture to go to the official site

After you read the book, you can do what I did at the time, and look for your first job here:

Click the picture to go to the official site and GET YOUR FIRST JOB!

Good luck with your journey :)

And whatever you do, don’t take any game tester courses!

What do you think about the first steps to working in game testing?

Young game testers in my office :)

Okay, so you decided to become a game tester. You want to make money playing video games. This is great, I’ve made the same decision 6 years ago, and I couldn’t be happier :)

Now, the big question is this: what do you need to become a game tester? I sat for a couple of hours and thought about all the things I did in order to develop in this industry. So here are the things you should do:

1. Have a good friend to gain experience with. It is hard to go through this process alone. Trust me, I know. I had to sit around for hours and look for good jobs in the internet by myself. It is really demotivating. If you have a good friend who is into video game testing, convince him to work together and to update each other with new things in the gaming industry.
2. You have to understand the gaming industry. It is important to understand the world the you are stepping into. If you manage to stay updated in the latest news in the industry, you’ll be able to stay focused on the jobs you want to get, and be first to apply as a candidate. When I was a beginner in game testing, I subscribed to the top gaming sites. I recommend you do the same.
3. When you apply for a game testing job, don’t send a generic job application. The guys on the other side like seeing a personal letter that explains why the candidate will be the fittest worker for the job, and why they should pick him. It might take you an extra hour a week, but you would probably find more jobs this way.
4. When you apply for a game testing job, send your game testing resume along with your application letter. It shows that you are serious. Probably more serious than most other candidates.
5. Learn some programming. I said it before and I will say it again. It helps when you are into software development. The company sees that you have some technical skills. In the end, you will be producing reports for the game designers and programmers. So it will really help if you understand their world too. I recommend studying some C at first. You can find great books online.
6. Learn some beta testing concepts. After all, you are applying for a QA job, and it is advisable to know some concepts in beta testing. You will have to convince the game testing company that you are fit to be a beta game tester, and if you have an interview and they ask you questions, it is good to have some knowledge about QA.

These tips are very important for you if you are asking yourself how to become a beta tester for games. I think most of you gained some new knowledge on the process you have to go through in order to become a game tester. But remember that the best way is to buy a good e-book and read it. I recommend a book like “become a game tester“. You will find everything you need to know there. Also, if you don’t like the book you have a 30-day money back guarantee (PayPal…).

Go read the book and good luck :)

The Activision logo

Activision. A great company that produced so many glorious video games: Guitar Hero, Call of Duty and many more. A couple of years ago, I was an Activision game tester. I tested some very interesting and new games.

One thing I remember from Activision. They have the most talented programmers and designers. Seriously. When I tested Call of Duty I found only half the amount I would have found in another company’s FPS. The beta versions they give out to us, testers, are so polished, you don’t even feel it’s beta versions. That’s how good they are.

I always say, that if you want to become a game tester, you should spend some time with Activision games, because that’s how video games should look like. Minimum bugs, maximum fun! Before you can test games with lots of bugs and just drown in them, I recommend being an Activision game tester.

What can you do to become an Activision game tester?

Well, Activision game testing jobs is that they look for a lot of  game testers. The problem is that they are over swamped with applicants and because of that they ask for the best. They don’t even need to advertize their game testing jobs, people just come to them through their website or by recommendations. If you want to become a Activision game tester, you should have a good resume with recommendations, or a friend from the inside. The other possibility is to have good knowledge of game testing. To get this knowledge you could read in my blog, or even better, try the books I recommend, like “Become a game tester“, and the special offers in the main page of my blog.

Now, sometimes Activision announces a recruitment of new beta game testers, so you might want to stay updated. Visit their site often and watch their updates and new stuff. Like I said in the last paragraph, have a good resume in hand, ready to be sent out to Activision game tester mail box once they announce a recruitment. Fill the resume with your skills and knowledge of game testing world. The most important thing about the resume, except of the experience, is the grammar. A good beta game tester uses proper grammer, because he has to write clearly so that the programmer that reads his report will know what to do next and which bug to fix.

What are the requirements from an Activision game tester?

Activision is a big company with a lot of employees. They produce quality games and it’s important for them to have great game testers, to tell them what is wrong with their products. They want qualified game testers that have knowledge of computers and have technical skills. They want people that use proper grammar. They want people that have at least a high school diploma. Also, Activision game testers must be capable of providing suggestions for the games they test.

In conclusion, remember that Activision is a great place to work if you want to become a game tester. They provide many game testing jobs and have frequent recruitment events.

If you’re thinking about applying for a job of an Activision game tester, remember the things I talked about in this post. You got to have knowledge, and to have knowledge, you have to read books! Check out the books I recommended, like “Become a game tester” and the special offers in the main blog page.

How many of you saw a real game tester scam? I bet a lot. Video game testing scams are super common over the internet. There are some products and courses that gain popularity over the internet but they do not give you any value. You will not find any game testing job with the help of it. Just waste your money..

So how to avoid game tester scams?

If the product you are viewing is a scam, it will probably have the following characteristics:

• No money back
  Always look for products that guarantee to give your money back in case you didn’t like the product. It’s golden rule, not only for the game testing world, but also to other products over the internet. If they don’t mention that you get your money back in 30 days or so, it’s probably a scam and they know their product sucks and that you probably want to return it. Look for products that use paypal as a payment system.
• Game tester courses
  These are usually a scam. But not in the classic meaning. game tester courses usually teach you a little material, and won’t touch the really interesting stuff. Instead they will say that you can take this course and that course to learn the material they didn’t touch. A good solution to this problem is to buy an ebook. It will contain the whole material and in all the books I have reviewed in my career, it has a full program of everything you need to know to become a game tester.
• Don’t have any reviews online
  Say you found some product that will teach you how to become a video game tester. Try looking it up in Google. If you don’t see any reviews of that product, it’s probably a scam. Real products that people use have plenty of reviews or buzz in the internet. That one is also true for all kind of internet products.

How I bought a game tester scam course

When I was younger, about 5 years ago, I also bought a course that was a scam. It even happens to the greatest :)
That’s why I’m telling you how to avoid it, cause I know that it sucks and disappointing to get scammed.

Anyway, as I was saying, some 5 years ago, I was reviewing some game testing courses over the internet, and I found a course called “Ultimate game testing course”. It had an awesome site, with all kind of guarantee banners and pretty graphics. It looked pretty reliable. So I went ahead and bought it. My mistakes were:

• I didn’t check for any reviews of the course on the internet. After I saw the course, I looked it up on the internet and there was nothing! Nobody talked about it at all.
• It did not have any money back guarantee..

The course sucked horribly. It was boring and talked about maybe 1-2 things. In the last video the lecturer just talked about new courses in the site and that if we want to become game testers we should check them out…

So, in conclusion, be careful for these kind of scams and buy books, which are a lot better and safer. You can find some great books I recommend here in my blog! For instance, “become a game tester” is wonderful, it truly provides you with all the material you need to get game testing jobs.

The million dollar question is where to begin. What should you do to become a game tester and finally start making money playing video games you like. It may sound unreal but it is very real. You just have to understand the basics and have the sources. Only that way you can start getting game testing jobs. In this post I will tell you what I did in order to become a game tester and how I gained experience.

So here goes:

Since I was 7, when I got my first computer, I’ve been fooling around with it. I broke it a few times, got electrocuted and other stuff too.. I’ve been a busy kid as you can see. One day my dad got me my first computer game. It was Doom II. Let me tell you, it was awesome. I played with it for months, because I didn’t have any other game to play with. I finished the game like 800 times.. without cheats!!

I remember thinking: “Damn, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. Just sit around all day, drinking soda, and playing video games”. Over the years I played some other games, without understanding computers too much. I was never really interested in  computers. I just loved playing computer games. I grew up hoping that in the future I would make money playing video games.

When I was about 16 I came across some site that spoke about testing games and getting money for it. My eyes led. I was amazed. As I read more, I understood that this is what I have been waiting for my entire life. Playing video games for money! I didn’t understand much at the time, and I didn’t know what is game beta testing.

A couple of days later I bought some E-book the site recommended (I will tell you what was the book soon). Let me tell you, IT WAS THE SMARTEST MOVE I EVER MADE IN MY LIFE. I read the book and learned so much.. Only then I understood what is game beta testing and how this industry really works. These E-books have information you just CAN’T GET NOWHERE ELSE for free. It’s the truth.

Anyway, after reading the book I started following it’s instructions. I followed a few simple steps and got my first game testing job!!! It paid 15$/hr and I was thrilled! I remember my parents were very proud of me.. They stopped giving me allowance because of my earnings.. I know it’s not that much of paycheck, but it was a very good start.

With the help of the detailed instructions in the book, I found more and more jobs, my experience grew and so did my salary. After only 5 months of work I got jobs that paid 40$/hr!

Anyway, this is my start. Today I am a senior game tester and I make a little more than 40$/hr :) :)

I hope that you will be able to tell a similar story in a couple of years, or even earlier.

Now for the real secret, the book that helped me get started in game testing was “Become a game tester“. I really recommend it. Really. If you are serious about game testing, you must read a book, because you can’t learn everything on the internet for free..

It’s a wonderful, well-known e-book and it has everything you need to know about how to become a game beta tester.

Of course you can use any of the other books I recommend here in the blog. You can see special offers in the main page of the blog.

Good luck and see you in the next post!! :)

How to become a beta tester for games?

If you are reading this, you must be a gamer, and probably a serious one. You want to turn your hobby of playing computer games into a career or at least something profitable. You want to become a game tester! This is a great step. You will be able to blend into the world of gaming, understand how it all works, have fun and play computer games, and the most important of all – make money while doing so!

But you have to know several things before you make the first step towards becoming a game tester. As a game testing veteran, I want to help other people achieving their dream and becoming video game testers. So, I set down and compiled the 3 most important things you have to know before you make any step further:

1. Have a solid knowledge of the video game industry. In order to give any advice concerning video games, you have to understand how the world of gaming works. You should put some effort in reading some gaming magazines/sites, learn about the various game genres, and of course, play some computer games!
2. Game testing is actually software testing. You test a product, as fun as it may seem. You must learn the concepts of software testing, and even study some basic programming languages like C/C++, or Java. This will help you to understand the technical side of game testing. You will have a common language with the engineers and your knowledge will grow beyond just plain game testing, because who knows, maybe some day you’ll want to be a video game designer.
3. To become a video game tester, you must understand computers. This includes software as well as hardware. You should explore a bit about graphic drivers, computer memory and so on. That way, you will be able to tell which game will run well on which computer, and on any system. You must know how to use software and have basic technical skills. As a beta game tester, you will have to write technical documents.. This is an important skill and you should really take some time and acquire it if you want to become a game tester.

These skills are important because although there are many game testing jobs out there, you have a lot of other game testers applicants to beat. If you want to be better than other game tester and achieve the job of your dreams – you have to put some time and effort and acquire the skills that I specified. Read in my blog and follow my posts for more tips and important things.

What’s next?

You can acquire all the skills I mentioned in the internet, searching for hours after single pieces of information, that may be wrong. But you can do what I did – just download a great book such as the “Become a game tester“. It has all the things you can possibly imagine about game testing. It will teach you exactly what you need to know to become a game tester. I used it 6 years ago and now I am living the dream :)